Julius
'''Julius Sumner Miller '''is a roughly 40-year-old human wizard in the "Storm Chasers" Dungeons and Dragons campaign. Despite describing himself as a "Wizard" and being educated in the Divination school of magic, Miller strongly believes in the idea that magic does not exist and that all magic present in his universe can be "explained" as phenomena of the natural sciences, clever technology, or outright fraud. Miller was trained in the standard arcane methods of a wizard and is thus able to conjure some traditional magic which he is unable to explain. This frustrates him, and he is reluctant to use such 'tricks.' He prefers to use "spells" he's recreated either mechanically or scientifically. While his versions of the spells have the same end result of traditional spells, they look "fake" to others, often making witnesses feel physically uncomfortable. His "divination" skills, while seemingly arcane, are a result of his skills of observation and perception. Miller continues to seek scientific enlightenment and promote logic and free thought, to a degree that annoys and unsettles his cohorts. He's not very diplomatic, lacks etiquette, and is unwilling to accept the unknown or admit his theories are wrong. He also tends to drink a bit more than he should, but unlike his fellow Storm Savers Barnaby and Woody, he becomes more quiet and introspective under the influence of alcohol. Background Miller's father, Albrecht Miller was an Illuksan human and left home when Julius was young. Albrecht's current whereabouts are unknown, but not of great interest to Julius. His mother, Gillian Sumner, was Rashemi human and raised Julius in a small Savran commune (Savras is the god of divination and fate, symbol: crystal ball full of eyes). Over time, Gillian becan to question the idea of predestination and divination and was exiled, leaving her and Julius both even more suspicious of religion in general. She and Julius lived in seclusion while Julius continued to study "magic" from a scientific perspective. After her recent death, which greatly upset Julius, he set out into the world to debunk magic and religion, and spread the word of science. Miller came to Porth Arbor after his mother's death in search of adventure, and found it quickly, as a seemingly-supernatural storm struck the city. During the storm, his obvservation and quick thinking (and possibly more importantly, the elven monk Taag) prevented a cartload of children from rolling down a ramp. Their heroism was brought to the attention of Porth Arbor's mayor, "Captain" Candace von Mayer, who invited the two new friends to her dinner party where the Storm Savers met and the campaign began. Miller privately remains suspicious of the Captain and her motives, considering her repressive capitalist at best and despite her current popularity in Porth Arbor, he suspects she may be an outright criminal/totalitarian with only her own interests at heart.. He's interested in making contact with the Guild, suspecting they serve as a proletariat-friendly underground resistance. Even so, (like A'uki) he agrees to join the Storm Savers for adventure, employment, and to expand his knowledge of the world. Metawhathaveyou Julius is (obviously) named after physicist Julius Sumner Miller, a wild-haired and cantankerous host of various children's television shows promoting science education in the 1960s through the 1980s. Miller was famous for his catchphrases "Watch It!" and "Why is it so!," which his fantasy namesake is very likely to also help himself to. Julius, was created by and is played by Bryan Bedell, a graphic designer/photographer at Field Notes Brand in Chicago.